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Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Tzuk Eytan (Protective Edge) Day 44

The cease-fire ended when over 100 rockets were fired at Israel on
Wednesday. This after Hamas violated a 24-hour cease-fire extension of a
five-day cease-fire brokered in Cairo. Israel responded with over 80
air strikes, and recalled 2,000 reservist to the Gaza border. Tuesday
night sirens were heard in Jerusalem at 11:53 p.m. and the Iron Dome was
called into action, downing a rocket. Other rockets aimed at Ashkelon,
Ashdod and Beer Sheva, were also downed by the Iron Dome. Two Israeli
homes were damaged by mortars near the Gaza border, but no injuries were
reported.
Aafter Hamas fired the first few rockets on Tuesday
afternoon, Israeli planes struck at a home in Gaza that intelligence
said contained the Hamas military leader Mohamed Def. The house was
destroyed, and it is as yet unclear if Def was inside. This would have
been the fifth time Israel has tried to assinate Def, a veteran
terrorist who is wanted for organizing suicide bombers in Israel as far
back as the 1990's.
According to reports, Hamas leader Khaled
Mashal, was told by his sponsors in Qatar, where he lives, that if he
does not break the cease-fire with Israel he would be ejected from
Qatar. Mashal not only lives in luxury in Qatar, but has banked nearly
$2 billion in that country. Then at 9:30 p.m. Israel attacked the house
where Def was to have been, dropping approximately seven bombs, totaling
five tons of explosives on the house. Experts in Israel say that Def
was probably injured, if not killed.
However, Hamas spokesmen say
that Def is still alive. “Abu Khaled is a great leader,” said a
spokesman on Arabic TV in Gaza, using Def's nickname.
Military
commentators also pointed out that Def had built a very stable and
highly functioning military and even if he were dead the army he built
was still quite capable of carrying on without him.
Qatar
reportedly is upset with the fact that the Qatar leadership had not been
included in the ceasefire talks in Cairo. Egyptian leaders have little
patience for Qatar's leadership, who they consider sponsors of attempts
to overthrow the Egyptian government under General al-Sissi.
Another
factor complicating the situation is the discovery by Israel of a Hamas
plot in the West Bank to overthrow the Palestinian Authority's Abu
Mazen and replace the PA with Hamas. The plot was hatched by Hamas
operatives in both Turkey and Jordan. The same Hamas men also planned
the kidnapping of the three Israeli teenagers that ignited the current
fighting. Pundits say that ,as would be expected, the PA was having a
hard time sitting in Cairo and trying to broker a cease-fire with
Israel, shuttling between Hamas and Israeli representatives.
Surprisingly,
according to pundits, Israel is still expecting the ceasefire talks to
continue in the next few days. However, analysts say that the option to
send the Israeli army back into Gaza is also on the table. The Israeli
cabinet met on Wednesday to discuss the situation. Israeli commentators
say that Hamas is not interested in another month of fighting. Rather,
one points out, Hamas takes the long view, that one day, maybe tomorrow,
maybe next year, maybe in a decade, or two, they would eventually drive
out the Infidels.
Reportedly, an agreement had been reached in
Cairo that would open some of the Gaza/Israel border crossings, allow
Gaza fishermen to work up to a 12-kilometer limit off the coast, and
even reached an agreement to discuss the distinct possibility of a Gaza
seaport, under international control. The seaport would be stationed
off-shore, in Greece or Cyprus, with cargo examined by Israeli officials
for weapons and explosives, before the cargo was shipped to Gaza.
Gen.
(ret) Giora Eiland told a panel on Channel 10 TV news that Israel had
to start thinking of different strategies. He said that the traditional
methods, using planes, bombs, artillery, tanks, and ground troops, was
not working. He said that Hamas and Gaza were one in the same. The
population supported Hamas, and anyone who thought the population was
captive to Hamas was mistaken. Once the reality of Hamas as a
governmental entity was accepted, then Israel could start using other
methods to control Gaza. Eiland pointed out that Israel supplies Gaza
with most of the water, electricity and communications used by the
population. This conundrum could be used to Israel's advantage by simply
stopping the flow of these services. Ironically, these services
continued even during the fiercest fighting between Hamas and Israel.
Or
Heller, Channel 10 TV's military correspondent, said that the
possibility of Israel using ground forces is still possible but he said
that this was something Hamas would relish. They have set booby-traps
and ambushes in buildings and roads, primed for an Israeli invasion.
Hamas
fought well during Tzuk Eytan, said Heller, not like the previous
battles, then called Cast Lead, nearly two years ago when Hamas fighters
ran from IDF forces. “This time they fought hard, defending every
tunnel opening.” Heller pointed out that Israel lost 10 soldiers in the
Cast Lead incursion in Gaza and of them four were friendly fire. “This
time the IDF lost 64 soldiers. Showing that Hamas was a much better
fighting force than it was before.”
In the Hollywood film
“Extremely Close and Incredibly Loud” a young boy spends the entire film
searching for the lock to a key his late father had hidden in a closet.
The father, played by Tom Hanks, had perished in the 9/11 attack on the
World Trade Center in NYC.
One commentator made the connection to
the current situation. The same terrorist ideology that brought down
the World Trade Center, that is shared by ISIS, formally Al Qaeda in
Iraq, by Hezbollah, and Hamas forms a tight web of belief binding the
groups.
One observer pointed out that the sight of Hamas wounded in Gaza hospitals skews the reality in Hamas' favor.
In
fact, Hamas followers, and their allies around the world, those that
gather to hold anti-Israeli demonstrations, and organize boycotts of
Israeli goods, are the same people, ideologically, who flew those 747's
into the World Trade Center, who attacked the Pentagon, and tried to
attack the White House. For good or bad, the observers say, Israel is
the one facing this rising wave of Islamic fundamentalism on the ground,
on a daily basis.
War is a bloody business. And the west should
remember who would be stood up and shot, hung, or beheaded, if the
Islamists take over.